The national Executive Council recommended Minneapolis as the site for the General Convention of 2003 when the council opened its meeting June 14 at an Appleton, Wis., hotel. The council, meeting in the Diocese of Fond du Lac for the first time, adopted Minneapolis as the site of the 74th triennial convention and sent the recommendation on to the presidents of the church's nine provinces for further approval.

The last time General Convention met in Minneapolis, in 1976, historic legislation was adopted, with the ordination of women to the priesthood and revision of the Book of Common Prayer both approved. Next year's convention will be held in Denver.

The Rev. Barnum McCarty, council member from the Diocese of Florida, presenting the report of the Planning and Arrangements Committee, told the council of committee members' visits to Minneapolis and Salt Lake City in May before deciding on Minneapolis.

Fr. McCarty also listed the following cities as under consideration to be the host for the 75th General Convention, in 2006: Baltimore, Charlotte, N.C., Salt Lake City, San Antonio and Pittsburgh, Pa.

He also spoke briefly about next year's convention and reported that Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold would set the tone for the convention on the first Tuesday it is in session and that two days later there would be a "Jubilee Eucharist," with reflection on who we are as a church.

Bishop Griswold was supposed to address the council at its opening session, but flight problems forced a delay in his arrival. Pamela Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies, presided and presented her address. She spoke of visits she had made to various dioceses and said she was "energized to reconnect with clergy and people who are not directly involved in church governance on a national scale, but are nonetheless interested, even enthusiastic, about what the national structures of the church can do to support their local ministries.

"Yes, of course we must be attentive and responsible about finances and program effectiveness and personnel policies and computer systems and all the other administrative aspects which undergird the mission of the church," Mrs. Chinnis said. "And yet it was most refreshing to meet so many people in pew after pew, so to speak, whose concerns had nothing to do with assessments or parochial reports or the finer points of canon law, but rather with how to live a Christian life in today's world, how the church can help them raise good children, or deal with serious illness or aging parents, or cope with tragic accidents, or bring stewardship ideals to bear on a local environmental conflict.

"This is the challenge always before us, to balance care for the institution of the church, Christ's body, with commitment to the mission of the church, to bring the reconciling love of Christ to all the world."

Mrs. Chinnis said that despite being impressed by the enthusiasm for mission and outreach of so many people "in the pews, I have also been dismayed by their lack of knowledge about the most basic facts of Episcopal Church history and governance. How can Episcopalians provide guidance to their leaders or understand the implications of decisions made if they don't know the institutional and historical framework along with the biblical and theological foundations?"

Bishop Griswold spoke during the afternoon of the opening day and touched on a variety of subjects, including the report of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), the Zacchaeus Report and the House of Bishops.

Regarding "the Gift of Authority," the ARCIC report, "It is not a finished document in the sense that it does not purport to be the last word," Bishop Griswold said, "rather it invites our two ecclesial communities to reflect on authority as it is worked out in our several systems and particularly, in this report, there is very clear call to reflect upon the ministry of service expressed by the Bishop of Rome.

"The document has caused surprise to a great many Anglicans because they had not really thought of the possibility of the Bishop of Rome having some role to play in their ecclesial life."

He noted that the Zacchaeus Report, the project of the Episcopal Church Foundation, shows there is "incredible vitality and good spirit in our congregations," and we are "doing very, very effective ministry."

"Also, what the Zacchaeus Report reveals is that Episcopalians find their identity in large measure through common worship. And the Eucharist is absolutely central to Episcopalians' lives."

Bishop Griswold also said the Presiding Bishop's Fund board has endorsed a capital funds campaign, that he was thinking about the question of the public role of the Presiding Bishop on behalf of the church, and that he hoped to visit the Patriarch of Moscow, the Ecumenical Patriarch in Istanbul, and, as co-chair of the international ARCIC dialogue, the pope.

The council had three more days of meetings.